Archangel Interceptor
"It is certainly true that faith is among the greatest of our weapons. All the same, there's really no substitute for a quartet of heavy machine guns to ruin somebody's day. ''" :- Man-At-Arms Bondarenko, 9th Interceptor Maniple "The Stormbringers" ''And so, forsaken by my fellows and cast out by the Romans, I went into the desert to fast and pray. And perhaps to die. I had naught but the clothes on my back and a skin of water, but I set out for the great mountain in hopes that God would show me the way. It was not an easy journey, and on the first day I was rewarded only by hunger and misery. I did not cry out for salvation as I once might have. Instead I remained silent, knowing that this was but another of the trials the Lord God set before me. On the second day, I beheld a curious sight. Around a large rock, an eagle and a scorpion dueled. The eagle was large and powerful, talons like iron and majestic in its visage. But the scorpion was cunning and hid amidst the sand and rock. Although its claws were frightening and its stinger poisonous, it was no match for the eagle and so had to hide and strike only when it thought it could surprise the eagle. Eagles do not surprise easily, and from above they see much. I sat for an entire day watching them battle, and could not know which was the victor. The scorpion did not die, but the eagle kept it in hiding under the rocks and sand, a danger to no one. On the third day, the Lord God rewarded me with a vision, and on the third day, I was afraid. I beheld a time when great beasts would thunder across the land, hides like iron and horns from which came plums of smoke and ash. Men would stand with spears and shields against the beasts, and their spears pierced the beasts' hides and rent their horns asunder. Fire lived in the hearts of the beasts, released when slain even as the men moved to slay the next one. The beasts came without number, but skilled with their weapons and armored in bright silver, the men held and began to push back the tide. Then locusts descended from on high, shaking the land with the buzzing of their wings. The locusts fell upon the men with tongues of flame, and there was nowhere for the men to run. Surrounded and besieged, the men swore to the Lord God that their service had not yet finished, and their end would be magnificent. Fear did not mar their hearts, and the Lord was pleased by their valor. For even as the locusts descended to sow confusion and blood for the beasts following them, I beheld the glory of the Lord. The angels of the Lord came upon the locusts, garbed in shining silver and bearing swords of burning iron. The locusts fell before the angels like wheat before the harvester's sickle and the men below gave praise to the Lord God Almighty. Renewed in faith, the men turned their spears upon the beasts besieging them and sang glory to God. Without the locusts, the beasts could not withstand the army of the Lord and fled before God's will. Then a great eagle appeared before the angelic host and proclaimed that the day would be glorified for all time, and the angels would be with the men for all time, fellow servants of the Almighty. On the fourth day, I rested and was at peace. :- Fragment attributed to the so-called Book of Mary, an apocryphal text rejected by the Catholic Church as non-canonical in the 12th century. Behind the Scenes The Archangel is based on the Siemens-Schukert D.IV, a German WWI-era biplane considered one of the best fighters of the era, but was produced too late to change the course of the war. Presumably the Order got their hands on the design and modified it to their purposes.